


Cross-Team Fraternization (or Steve really hates the Human Torch)

by mycr0fth0lmes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers
Genre: Jealous Steve, Johnny Storm has no compunctions about flirting with silver foxes who are super heroes, Johnny Storm is a jerk with a crush and some boundary issues, Johnny Storm is not a bad guy, M/M, Oblivious Tony Stark, Pepper Potts is the queen, Pining, Protective Steve, Tony Resents being called a silver fox, Tony flirts like he breathes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 05:54:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2337623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycr0fth0lmes/pseuds/mycr0fth0lmes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's been carrying a torch for Tony Stark, and has finally worked up the courage to make his move. Too bad Johnny Storm's just been loaned to the Avengers, and he's hot for Iron Man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hindsight

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhat CA:TWS compliant but will not go into Ultron speculation, you don't have to have read the comics to follow along, but there will be some light references here and there. Feedback is very much appreciated.

Steve Rogers is a man of simple pleasures.  
While he can understand the appeal of glitz and glamour, he's always been too down-to-earth to get swept up by this new world's razzle-dazzle.  
Which just makes his ridiculous pining over Tony Stark all the more ironic.  
Look.  
It's not like Steve _set out_ to fall in love with a loud mouth, sarcastic, workaholic industrialist.  
To say that he hated Tony Stark on sight would be an exaggeration, but they didn't exactly start out as bosom buddies. Steve had been raw, hurting and reeling from losing everyone he'd ever loved, and here was Tony Stark, who was the spitting image of his old friend and embodied all the confusing new things he'd woken up to. Tony had baited him, Steve had lashed out and just like that, he was telling his old friend's son that he was a selfish jerk who hid behind a metal suit. Just like that, he was picking a fight with a man he'd known just shy of five minutes.

Then they saved the world together. Tony Stark fell into formation seamlessly, like fighting side by side with five strangers was as easy as breathing. He took what he believed was a one-way trip into a space portal to save the city from a nuke.  
He lay down on a wire and let all of New York craw over him to safety.

Which was why, several months later, when Steve had taken up lodging in Stark tower, along with the rest of the team, he was surprised to see his apologies waved away with a casual _"Tensions were running high, Cap nobody even remembers most of what happened that day before nine bajillion aliens tried to take New York. It's all water under the bridge, capsicle."_. Tony had turned back to his specs and the matter was settled. Or it would have been, if Steve had taken his gift horse and high tailed it the heck out of dodge.

Instead, he uttered the words that would doom him for the rest of his life:

"Still, doesn't seem right to have treated you like that. It was not my best showing. Let me make it up to you. Can I buy you lunch?"

With that, buying Tony Stark lunch became a thing.  
\---

"Oh, c'mon, you have to at _least_ have seen commercials about it? Don't let them in? 'Don't let them see?' Are you kidding me right now?"

"I haven't exactly had time to watch cartoons, you know? I was kind of busy with Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D falling apart and finding Bucky." he resisted the urge to flinch. He shouldn't have brought that up.

"How's Cyborg doing, anyway? Is he any better?" Tony dipped a few fries in a glob of bright red ketchup avoiding Steve's eyes. He knew this was tough for Steve to talk about.

"Some days, yes. He's dealing a lot better with the world around him. Sam says it may take a while before he can resume his life as normal but his therapist seems to be doing really good work. Thanks for that, by the way, Tony." he met Tony's eyes as he looked up from his intensely riveting glob of ketchup.

Tony smiled winningly.

"It was nothing. Don't mention it. I'm glad Fullmetal Supersoldier's getting better." He stuffed his mouth full of soggy fries.

Steve sighed. 

"I know, I just wish I could see him more often. With how busy we've been lately I can't help but feel like I'm letting him down again...letting him slip through my fingers." he curled his hands into fists on the table.

"Hey." Steve was startled as Tony's hands were suddenly gripping his across the old linoleum diner table "You're _not_ letting anyone down, Cap. You're keeping the city safe. It's what you do. Bucky needs time to heal and he'll get it. You've seen to that. Even Captain America can't be in two places at once. I'm sure Bucky knows that."

Steve could only just hear anything Tony was saying over the roar of his own blood rushing in his ears. 

_Tony was holding his hand._

In the space of a second, Tony seemed to realize he'd crossed some boundary and began to move his hands away, whereas Steve realized he was gaping like an idiot and had snatched Tony's hands back, nearly tugging him towards him despite the table being in his way. They were both silent for a beat.

"You're right. He does. Know that, I mean." Steve cursed his own inability to _talk like a normal person_ whenever Tony and touching were involved. He gripped Tony's hands tight. "And it means a lot. To me, I mean, that you're being so great about this. I really, really appreciate it, Tony. " He finished lamely. He held Tony's hands across the table for a half a second before he let go and dragged them back to his lap.

Tony Stark was staring at him with his eyebrow raised. The left eyebrow. Tony always lifted his left eyebrow whenever he was baffled by something Steve had said or done. Steve knew this because he had no less than two colored pencil drawings of that face in his sketchbook.

"We could probably do something about that, though." Tony said and Steve struggled to understand the non-sequitur.

"What?"

"Being busy. I mean....you don't always have to be on first dispatch, you know, we could probably shuffle the deck a bit, maybe get Thor out more often." 

Steve began to protest, Thor was not very good at navigating 'Midgardian customs' and seemed physically incapable of being out in the field without causing large amounts of property damage.

"Or we could call in a little back up." Tony interrupted his words before they even had a chance to form. 

"Back up?"

"We're not the only superheroes in New York. Maybe it's time the other guys pulled a little more of their own weight. I'll make a few phone calls." 

Looking back, Steve would wish he had insisted on giving Thor a crash course in property damage. It would have been the simpler road to take.


	2. Pepper Potts is a Mutant (And Tony wants Sue Storm)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny Storm is a little shit and Tony needs to sleep more.

Tony Stark wanted The Invisible Woman. 

Ok, that sounded wrong. The invisible woman is married, he knows that. She is also, despite being very beautiful and intelligent, not really his type. Not that it matters because she's _married_.

Tony wanted her for the team, specifically. As backup.  
The Invisible Woman turned him down. Actually, she hung up on him. Which, ok, Tony was kind of an ass the last time they spoke but he was A.) very drunk at the time and B.) still in the weapons business back then, so he was practically a whole other person.

The reasons Tony had a preference for The Invisible Woman were actually very logical and noble, he'll have you know.

First of all, Sue Storm had the virtue of being incredibly smart and not being a total ass about it, unlike Reed Richards.

Second, she was well versed in team-work with people who were less awesome than her- she managed to survive in a team made up of The Thing, Mr. Fantastic and The Human Torch. Tony was more than half convinced the only reason the Fantastic Four was still alive was because death didn't want to deal with Sue Storm in all her pissed off badassery.

Third, have you _seen_ that woman fight? Have you? She can turn _invisible_ and levitates things and create forcefields. _How cool is that?_

Fourth, and this one was maybe not as legitimate as the other two tactically speaking, Sue Storm was a woman. Tony was well aware that the Avengers had become a major merchandise franchise, he ran all of the copyrights through the Stark legal team and made sure the proceeds from the merchandise all made their way to various charities. Little kids wore Avengers shirts and had Avengers lunch-boxes and played with Avengers action figures. Teenagers and adults alike wore Avengers hoodies and tees and hats.

 

It all came to his attention one day when Thor received a visit from Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis. Natasha had mentioned something about there 'finally being other women around' and Darcy had quipped about how she owned all of Black Widow's official merchandise. _"Not because I'm a creepy stalker or anything but you know, collectibles and such. Ok, maybe a little because I'm a creepy stalker"_. She'd earner an amused smirk from Nat for that one and it struck Tony that Nat was the only woman on the team. 

He'd been aware of it before but he hadn't been _aware_ of it, if that made any sense. 

Which was why, presented with the opportunity to have someone new added to the roster, even if it was as a temporary measure, it only made sense that it should be The Invisible Woman. 

He probably should have asked Pepper to call her. Pepper could get anyone to do anything. It may well be a superpower. Maybe Pepper was mutant. He should call her and ask.

 

\-----

 

"What? No, Tony, I'm not a mutant. Where did that even come from?"

Tony explained.

"Oh. That's actually kind of sweet, I think. What did you say to her?"

"I told her I'd seen her work as the Invisible Woman and I though she'd be a great addition to the team..."

Pepper was silent. She knew there was more.

"...I may have mentioned that The Avengers is the big leagues anyways and that this way she won't have to deal with the three stooges she has for team mates...."

"Oh, Tony." Pepper sighed. Tony was thankfully silent. "Why do you even want The Invisible Woman on the Avengers? You've got a full roster, last I checked."

Tony explained.

"Oh, Tony." Pepper gave an entirely different sigh. Tony was not as subtle as he would like to think. 

She cut him off just as he was about to start making excuses that neither of them would buy.

"I'll talk to her. I have better things to do than ask superheroes to join your boy-band, Tony, but I'll talk to her for you."

Tony smiled wide.  
"That's my girl!"

"I'm not your girl." He could practically _hear_ her rolling her eyes at him.  
It didn't matter. With Pepper secret power, Sue Storm would be calling him to reconsider in two hours, tops.

\----  
 _Why is Johnny Storm in my living room?_ was the first thought that crossed Tony Stark's mind seven hours later as the elevator door soundlessly opened and gave him view of the main living area most commonly used by The Avengers as an entertainment center. 

He was draped over one of the couches, holding a half eaten apple in one hand and the remote to their theater system in the other. His right leg was thrown over the back of the couch, leaving him spread out like some kind of stupid burgling starfish.

"You guys have over one thousand channels and there is still nothing interesting on TV" Johnny said, as if breaking into the Avengers tower to eat Tony's apples (he was pretty sure they were his, this was his floor) and watch TV was something that he did on a regular basis.  
"Oh wait, I stand corrected." Johnny grinned and brought his apple over to his face for a bite.

 _Huh._ Tony stepped closer. It din't translate in photographs much, but in real life this guy looked kind of like a frat-boy version of Steve. He became vaguely aware of lewd sounds coming from his television.  
He turned his head. Oh.  
Johnny Storm broke into his floor of the Avengers tower to eat his apples and watch gay porn on his entertainment system.  
He turned back to Jonny, hoping any of this would make sense. It still didn't

"Why are you eating my apples, punk?" He groused. Wow, that was not what he meant to ask at all. "And what are you even doing in here?" Much better.

"Well, you see I was-"

"Tony, I wanted to ask you-" Steve stepped out the elevator, which hey, Tony hadn't even heard go and came back, good job, Tony. Great design, two cookies for you.

The room was silent for a few seconds, save for the two large oily men on screen making very unrealistic sounds and the rude munching sounds of Johnny Storm eating a very juicy apple.

"Um." Tony said. Very smart.

Steve seemed to snap out of his reverie, walking up to Tony and standing _too close_ putting a hand on Tony's _shoulder_ and peering at his face, concern flashing on his face like a bright neon sign of mother-henhood. Ok that one was weird. Was Steve talking? What was he saying?

"...was the last time you slept? You look run down. JARVIS, when was the last time Tony slept?"

"Fifty three hours ago, Captain Rogers." came JARVIS's reply. 

"Ok, that was actually kinda cool. Hey Jarvis what's the population of Argentina?" Johnny Storm had sat up and was staring up at the ceiling.

"Forty-one point forty-five million, Mister Storm."

_Wait, who let Johnny Storm in here? How did he get past JARVIS?_

"How did you get in here and how did you get past JARVIS?" Good old Steve. Steve had placed himself between Johnny and Tony, which was really cute, in Tony's opinion.

"Calm down Captain McFly, I was invited by Virginia Potts." Johnny had stood up, setting his apple core on the coffee table near him. 

_Wait, I think Steve bought those apples._  
Tony saw Steve's tension ease up a bit, by the way his whole posture seemed to go from "lion about to strike" to "cautious labrador assessing threat to their human". 

"And can I just say what a pleasure it is to finally meet Iron Man?" Johnny Storm crowed. "You're even sexier in person." He winked. Aaaand Steve was in Lion mode again. Johnny Storm seemed completely oblivious to the threat he was potentially bringing upon himself. Steve was always tense around people who hit on Tony. A lot of people hit on Tony and especially more in the year since he and Pepper had parted ways romantically. Steve was always weird about it. Tony didn't ask, but he assumed it had to do with the fact that Tony was now a part of the earth's mightiest heroes. It's not like he could be seen fucking his way through New York. It would be bad for the team's image. As if Tony had time for that kind of thing anymore anyways. 

Johnny had ambled over to stand in front of Tony and was grinning like a blond Cheshire cat. Why did Tony's brain revert to similes when sleep deprived?

"Tony, why did Ms. Potts invite Johnny Storm to your penthouse?" boy, that sounded accusatory. Tony turned around to look at Steve, giving his back to Johnny. 

"I'm not really sure what's going on here." Tony confessed. "Not that I mind usually, but can you please turn that off?" he nodded towards the TV, where athletic-looking young guy #1 and athletic-looking young guy #2 were being joined by what Tony's sleep starved brain had decided to call Muscle-bound McSilverfox. 

Johnny, who didn't like being ignored, took this to be the perfect moment to grab Tony's ass.

And that's how Johnny Storm got himself decked by Steve Rogers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I've never in my life really done creative writing before, but I really like this ship and thought i'd give it a shot, if you think they're not in character or have any constructive criticism I would really appreciate it.


	3. Bucky and Hilda and counting cards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is a no good card counting cheater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode is centered mostly around Steve and Bucky, but there is an important conversation with Tony Stark, or at least the first half of one.

Steve should have known he was screwed once he started feeling protective of Tony. Most people saw Tony Stark and they saw someone who was larger than life, who could go toe to to toe with anyone and smirk the whole way through. And maybe this was true.  
But Steve knew there was more. 

There was Tony at three in the morning after a long day of fighting the villain of the week, running simulations and replaying everything, inventing new ways to protect his team mates and working on innovations for his company, checking and revising and working. This Tony Stark, exhausted and bleary but still stubborn and determined, always awoke a nearly rabid sense of protectiveness inside Steve's gut. 

It was for this reason that, when presented with a Tony Stark so tired the dark circles under his eyes looked like bruises, he may have over-reacted to Johnny Storm's innapropriate flirtations

"So, just let me make sure I have this right." Natasha's arms were crossed over her chest and she was glaring at a ruffled-looking Steve. His shirt was torn at the collar and scorched in several places. Tony, sitting next to Steve, looked very small. Perhaps that was on purpose. Everyone knew he was scared of Black Widow.

"You-" she pointed at Steve "-punched The Human Torch-" she pointed at a Johnny Storm, who was standing near the far wall, Thor's hand clasped over his shoulder, lip split and still oozing a bit "- To protect _Stark's_ honor?" her index finger had migrated to it's final destination, pointing at Tony, who looked equally baffled and indignant at somehow being held at fault for something Steve had done.

Steve squared his shoulders. Picking a fight, especially in The Avengers' tower had been wrong, but he wasn't about to let this conversation turn insulting. He took a deep breath and stood up. He could feel the tension in the room mount as he walked over to Johnny, who was unsuccessfully trying to shrug off Thor's large hand.

"I'm sorry I hit you." He began, and Johnny stilled, narrowing his eyes and raising his chin "I shouldn't have done that, but you harassed Tony while he was vulnerable and I reacted poorly. I'd like to let bygones be, if you want." He extended his hand and stared at Johnny earnestly.

"Bygones." Johnny parroted back, and shook Steve's hand.

"Welcome to the Avengers. You'll be running drills tomorrow at oh-eight-hundred hours with Clint and Natasha." He turned to Nat "please run the usual assessments. Thor?" He looked at Thor "Thank you for intervening when you did."

Thor grinned wide.

"Twas nothing, Stephen!" He boomed "I am glad to have assisted in preventing harm from coming to our new shield brother. I know how much you esteem brave Anthony, it is only to be expected that you would come to his defense if you thought him threatened. I am sure Jonathan" there was a pointed glance "will be more respecting of Anthony's dignity in the future." 

Thor began to drag Johnny Storm away, his arm draped over Johnny's shoulders as he walked him towards the elevator.  
"Come, Jonathan, allow me to help you find lodging. I am sure the gracious JARVIS will be able to assist us in finding you a spare bed."

Steve had already shifted his attention back to Natasha.  
"I'm sorry you had to see that. It won't happen again." 

"See to it that it doesn't, Steve. I don't think I need to remind you: The Avengers follow your example. And Stark?" Tony looked up at her, his chin resting on his fist. "Stay out of trouble. We'll all talk about it tomorrow morning."  
She went the same route as Thor did, getting into the elevator behind him, still holding on to Johnny who was now engaging him in conversation.

The polished metal door closed with hardly a sound and the lights above it indicated the elevator was silently making it's way down.

"I really wish she wouldn't scold me when I haven't actually done anything wrong." Tony straightened up with a small grunt.  
"Do I need to mention how your reaction was completely our of proportion?"

Steve hesitated before answering. 

"I...yes. Tony, I know I over-reacted. But-" 

"Cap, I know you meant well but I think we might need to get you some sensitivity training or something. Maybe Pepper can schedule something for you, hire someone who can help you with that sort of thing."

Steve's heart sank. It couldn't be. Was Tony saying..?

"What sort of thing? I'm not following you here, Tony-"

"Look, you clearly over reacted because Johnny and I are both men and there was the...yeah, on the TV? The movie Johnny was playing. And I get you're from a different time but you can't go around punching guys for liking guys."

"What?! No! Tony that's not-" 

"Yeah, look, I get it! Different era and everything, and I'm not saying what Johnny did was ok with me because it was still harrasment, even if it _was_ kinda funny watching him topple over and then try to tackle you. It was like watching a flaming hummingbird try to fight a bald eagle, but the fact remains, we can't progress in diversifying the team if Captain America is homophobic." 

Steve was shocked.

"Tony, I would never....you can't think-"

"Be honest, Steve. I'm trying to be understanding here. I know you were raised differently, but we can't tolerate that kind of thing, especially not on The Avengers."

Steve's shoulders dropped. There was something about the disappointment in Tony's voice that was somehow more painful than the rapidly healing first degree burns on his right forearm. 

"It wasn't that, Tony. I...jeez. Is that what you think? "

"What am I supposed to think? Can you honestly tell me that if a woman had done what Johnny Storm just did you'd have knocked her on her ass?"

"That's not-! You looked exhausted, like you were seconds away from crashing- you might as well have been sleep walking and he took advantage of you!" 

Steve stopped talking before he could make things worse.  
Tony was staring at him with his left eyebrow raised. Maybe Steve could-

"So...were you- I mean, I don't have any other way to...were you _defending my honor_ , Steve?"

Steve felt his face heating at the implications. Yes. That's probably what he had been trying to do, damn fool that he was.

"Um. I think I was." Steve admitted. "But it's nothing I wouldn't have done for anyone if I felt they were being... accosted." He finished lamely.

"Huh." 

There was beat of silence where Steve sincerely wished some minor emergency or a false alarm presented itself to whisk him away from this terribly awkward situation.

"Yeah. No. I'm officially too tired to follow this conversation." Tony reached into his pocket and held out his phone to Steve "Call Pepper. Tell her what you did and she'll, I dunno...fix it or tell you why it was sexist or something. I'm gonna crash for a few hours." Tony spun on his heel a bit tiltily and began walking off in the general direction of his bedroom "You know the way out."

\-----  
Steve did not call Ms Potts.  
That poor woman already had too much on her plate to be dealing with Steve's foolery. And if Steve was honest, the few times they had interacted in person recently, she had given him what he could only describe as a knowing smile. It was deeply unsettling. Especially because they started before Steve himself realized how he felt. 

Instead, he'd left Tony's phone for him to find on the coffee table.

Things would be a lot easier for Steve if Johnny Storm were bad at what he did or if he was actively malicious.

Instead, he worked surprisingly well with the rest of the team and seemed incapable of holding a grudge. He casually shrugged off Steve's outburst and seemed to be working on becoming Hawkeye's best friend. 

He had moved in to one of the unoccupied rooms of Stark Tower and had assimilated into the team pretty seamlessly, all things considered. Or at least, that's what Natasha's initial report had stated.

It's not like Johnny Damn Storm was top priority on his list.

Steve was currently trying and failing to help Bucky acclimatize to the world. 

Bucky's stay at the Maria Stark Veteran's Wellness Center was a godsend. Tony and Pepper had to pull a lot of strings and thrown a lot of weight around to keep Bucky from having to stand trial for what he'd been forced to do as the Winter Soldier. 

Admitting Bucky into the wellness center with a promise of heightened security measures for the duration of his stay did the trick, with the World Security Council placated by the presence of Sam Wilson and a security detail of trained army veterans hand-picked by Lt. Colonel James Rhodes and bank rolled out of Tony Stark's pocket.

It wasn't that Bucky was thrown by the way the world had changed. He was awake for large parts of it and, for better or for worse, he remembered most of the past few decades.

It seemed instead that Steve himself, by his presence alone, was hindering Bucky's progress. It was very upsetting to know that Bucky seemed to have a harder time of adapting when Steve was around. On good days, Steve being around made Bucky wary and unsettled. On bad days, he'd bite out questions at him, taking his answers and seemingly deliberating on them skeptically. 

One truly terrible day, he broke one of the metal legs off a table and tried to impale Steve with it. Sam asked him to stay away for a bit after that one, and he had. With Avenger's business and SHIELD on its knees, there had been a lot of work to do anyway. When Sam told him Bucky wanted to see him again, Steve had let out a breath he hadn't really known he was holding.

But Bucky had been having a lot of good days lately. He seemed to have made friends with some of the other in-patients at the wellness center, and Steve had arrived one day to find him grouching at an army vet, accusing her of cheating at cards.

"I don't need to cheat to mop the floor with you, punk!" the middle aged woman (whose name Steve later found out was Hilda) grouched right back.

"Hey, I didn't punch Hitler in the face to be sassed by some no-good card shark!" Bucky snapped.

"You never punched Hitler, that was the blond one!" Hilda snarked.

"I didn't punch the real Hitler though." Steve interrupted, clearly holding back a laugh.

They both looked up at him, and Steve was happy to see Bucky didn't seem to react poorly to his showing up.

"You gonna stand there yukking all day or are you gonna help me wipe that smirk offa ole Hilda's face?" Bucky asked with a put on scowl.

"Who are you callin' old?!" Hilda asked indignantly "Aren't you 90?!"

Steve ended up playing cards with Hilda and Bucky for three hours. Three hours of good natured banter from Steve and tongue in cheek grouchiness from Hilda and Bucky. It turned out Hilda knew how to count cards, and once Steve got the hang of it, he found himself unable to stop calculating either.

"Aw c'mon! Now you got Steve doing it too! If we're gonna be unfair, why don't I just arm wrestle the both of you?"

Today was, indeed, a good day. Steve felt immensely grateful to be allowed this: his best friend, happy and healthy. Or at least healing. It was at the moment of this thought crossing his mind when his Avenger's card started beeping in his shirt pocket.

\--------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Wow. Thank you all for your kind commenting and kudos! It was extremely encouraging, even though I was incredibly busy all month long. I took longer than I had hoped to have even this little chapter ready. Please know that I intend to see this through to the end, wherever that may be, and that your kind words have really helped keep me focused.  
> Constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you!


End file.
